The chronicle of a life split between urban Manhattan and rural Montana.

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

MY HAPPY PLACE

Round trip excursion
While this writer may espouse the concept
of escaping, in truth I'm a homebody. Hence
while it's good to stretch one's boundaries,
my natural inclination is to cocoon. I'm an
inveterate creature of habit thus I'll admit
it's good to be back where I belong. The
pleasantries of having one's bed linens and
towels changed daily aside, I'm happy to
be forced to make my own bed and lie in it.
Because it's ours alone I'm certain that after
hitting my own sheets tonight I'll sleep the
best I have in a week. Could absence truly
make the heart grow fonder?

Snow day
Some claim the grass is greener yet
we returned home to find our home
turf covered with snow and leaves.
While autumn is in full force here
in central Montana it appeared more
like winter. Yet the joy of returning
home can't be usurped by even the
worst of Mother Nature's onslaught.
It's tough to describe the pleasure of
being in one's own space. Everything
ready and waiting to welcome you
back to your daily grind. Talk about
the pleasures of home sweet home...

To do list
Then one realizes a week of laundry has
to be done. Or discover the forgotten bits
and pieces left in the fridge. All over our
abode elements literally screamed out for
attention. In our case it was an irate smoke
detector in one of our guest rooms. Every
few minutes it squealed loudly in protest
of some malfunction. As with all things
in our new old house, I had no idea if it
had a battery or not. Post climbing up a
letter and looking closer, I still couldn't
figure out exactly what was wrong. And
then in error I pushed the wrong button.

Return to sender
Suddenly the entire house was abuzz.
After some fumbling I re-pushed the
button and SILENCE! Soon thereafter
our electrician arrived with the answer.
And yes, all it needed was a battery!
Moving on to my next big challenge
I followed up on an errant package
lost between here and there. Finally
we confronted the gigantic mound of
mail waiting to be opened. All of the
above and more could quickly cause
one to wonder why they ever came
back. Yet home is where my heart is.

Repeat performance
While there may be merits to journeying
beyond one's comfort zone, the benefits
of staying put far outweigh exploratory
tendencies. Thus at least for this man, a
mundane existence of rote rituals seems
rather comforting. It enables one to zone
out the world by staying within the cozy
confines of their Pavlovian safety net.
Therefore sans any room or turn down
services this homebody is happiest right
where I belong. My only question is...
which of my favorite recipes should I
prepare for our welcome home dinner?!